BY HERBERT HEATON, M.A., M. COMJM. 25 



Arthur cannot be excused at times of a certain vindictive- 

 ness in his actions, and of a wilful deafness to the demands 

 of the more democratic free settlers. But the blame was 

 not all on one side, and until Robertson and the rest had 

 learnt the value of truth and moderation, such conflicts 

 as have been described in this paper were inevitable. 



With the arrival of Sir John Franklin, a more reason- 

 able atmosphere was created, and the Radical press lost 

 some of its venom. Melville occasionally figured in libel 

 cases, the plaintiffs being private citizens, but the rancour 

 of 1834-6 was gone forever. Meanwhile the Hohart 

 Town Courier had passed in 1837 into the hands of Mr. 

 Elliston, Master of the Longford Academy (62), who com- 

 bined a gentle flattery of the Governor with eloquent edu- 

 cational articles, some of v/hich urged the need for a Uni- 

 versitv in the island. The idea of a University had been 

 conceived some ten years earlier, but nothing had been 

 done. Elliston now took up his pen to revive the demand, 

 and in several splendid articles he pleaded for a Univer- 

 sity, no matter how small. Such an institution, he urged, 

 would attract those who otherwise would go from Aus- 

 tralia and India to England ; it would produce good doc- 

 tors and teachers; and "finally, by providing instruction 

 in the higher departments of literature, independently of 

 a professional kind, that character would be given to the 

 wealthier classes of the colonists without which rank is 

 intolerable, and the influence of wealth pernicious" (63). 

 PerhaDS also the University might have had a beneficial 

 effect on journalists, and hastened the day when the oft- 

 used ^hrase, "the licentiousness of the press," would be 

 meaningless. Tliat day came slowly, as the pre.ss began 

 to realise a deeper sense of moral responsibility, and, as 

 journalists, assured of liberty of speech, laid down as their 

 ideal. "The truth, the whole truth (unless it hurts our 

 case), and as little as possible beside the ti^ith." 



NOTES AND REFERENCES. 



1. Teetotal Advocate, 1842. 



2. The Irish Exile, 1850-1. 



3. See Fenton, "History of Tasmania"" (1884), p. 41. 



4. Hohart Town Gazette, Januan? 7, 1825. 



